Interlocking-unit wall construction



L. S. ABBOTT INTERLOCKING UNIT WALL CONSTRUCTION Feb. 21, 1928.

2 Sheets-Shoo. 1

Filed April 4. 1927 /0 Feb. 21, 1928.

L. S. ABBOTT INTERLOCKING UNIT WALL CONSTRUCTION Filed April 4. 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Feb. 21, 1928.

warren STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LYLE STOCKTON ABBOTT, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO CHICAGO FIRE BRICK COMPANY, OF CHICAGO; ILLINOIS, .A CORPORATION OFILLINOIS.

IN TERLOCKING-UNIT Application filed April 4,

My invention relates to improvements in the construction of furnace walls and has for its object the provision of a wall of thls character in which the several parts thereof may be readily replaced when for any reason they become unserviceable.

Another object of the invention is to provide a wall of this character which is made up substantially entirely of refractory fire bricks or tile and a metallic frame and which is so constructed as to relieve the fire brick of any undue pressure from the la ers above any particular set of fire bricks. he refractory material such as is used in the construction of fire bricks has very little tensile strength and is also very easily crushed when subjected to any great amount of weight. It is necessary therefore, in building furnace walls of any appreciable height, to provide means for relieving the lower portion of the fire brick from the weight of the wall where the bricks will be crushed and soon deteriorate so as to destroy the furnace.

Various means have been employed to cure this difficulty and in present structures it is quite common to build the outer wall of the furnace of common brick or some such suitable material that is 'capable of withstanding the weight and to,make the lining of fire brick WhlCh is supported by tie members at various places throughout the height of the wall which are anchored in the outer brick wall so as to transfer the weight of the fire brick to the outer section and leave the layers of fire brick below the tie members free from pressure of those above the tie members.

It is diflicult in a structure of this character, however, to build the inner walls so that the refractory lining may be replaced as it wears out at different points without having to tear the entire lining out. With my invention, this difliculty is obviated be cause the fire brick going to form the Wall of the furnace are built up of units, each of which is supported independently of the other units and each of which may be removed and replaced without affecting the supporting means for the other units. In carrying out the invention, I provide a framework consisting of a plurality ofupright metallic means which are arranged in pairs and so constructed that a hanger bar may be carried by each pair and detached WALL CONSTRUCTION.

1927. Serial No. 180,911.

therefrom under certain conditions, together Wltll a plurality of horizontally extending an port members secured to the uprights.

he hanger bars each support a set of refractory tile members in place upon horizontally extending support members and the spaces between these tile members and the next vertical adjacent support member are filled with interlocking tile which, when secured 1n place, firmly locks the wall together and makes a smooth inner surface of refractory material. When the walls are built up in th1s manner and the furnace is heated, the cracks between the various units of refractory tile since they are very small, become quickly closed and the inner surface of the wall will become glazed over in the usual manner in which the inner furnace walls become coated in use.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear as the description proceeds when taken in connection with the ac companying drawings wherein one particu lar embodiment of the invention is shown in detail. However, I wish it to be distinctly understood that I do not intend to limit myself to the exact details shown and described, but that I intend to avail myself of all such modifications as would occur to one skilled in this art and as would fall'within the scope of the claims.

In the drawings: Fig. 1 is a plan view of a portion of the furnace wall illustrating the manner. in

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of another refractory member used.

Referring now in detail to the drawings,

' in building up the furnace wall I provide a plurality of uprights 10 which as shown in Fig. 1, are I-beams arranged in pairs and spaced longitudinally around the wall at proper intervals. The pairs of I-beams as hanger bar are su shown are spaced a short distance apart to provide a vertical slot therebetween to receive the stems of the hanger bars 12 and at intervals throu hout their height adjacent inner flanges o the I-beams have cut out portions 13 and 14 to make an opening of suflicient size for the insertion or removal of the round head 15 on the hanger bar.

Extending horizontally alon the wall and secured to the I-beams are the supporting angle irons 16 having the horizontall inward y extending portions 17 upon whic the units 18 of refractory tile carried by. the

ported.

As shown in 1g. -1, each hanger bar carries four of the refractory tile members 18, each of which has around hole 19 extending transversely therethrough and each.

of which is'provided with a recess 20 in one of the said faces thereof so as to make the end portion having the hole therethrough thinner than the main body portion of the tile. Two of these tile are placed on either side of the hanger bar with their plane side faces in engagement so that the recessed faces on the two inner tile cooperate to leave a passagewa for the stem of the hanger bar while t e-recessed faces on the two outer tile provide spaces into which the ifo'ecting portions 21 and 22 on the ends of t e anger ars mayextend without abutting against the next adjacent unit of tile.

In buildin up the furnace, these tile units consisting o four refractory tile members and a hanger are secured to the uprights b passin the head of the hanger bar throug the en arged openings provided by the cut out ortions 13 and 14 and allowing the unit to rop down until the lower edges of the refractory tile members rest u on the hori-.

zontal portion 17 of the angle ron 16. The refractory tile 18' as shown clearly in Fig. 3 are'cut out along the edges as at 23. and 24 to receive the portion 17 of the supporting members and permit the main body portion of the tile when resting thereon to extend down substantially even with the lower faceof the portion 17. The cut out portions 23 and 24 are provided on both edges of the tile members so that a tile may be replaced and used in any place within the unit supported by the hanger bar. that is desired.

After the units carried by the hanger bars are laced in position, the interlocking tile mem ers 25 and26 are inserted above the units and are preferably of such size that they-do not quite fill the space between the tile members 18 and the next row of tile members supported by the next vertical adjacent an 1e iron 16. These members 25 and 26, as s own clearly-in Fig. 5 are of suflicient length to extend beyond the outer ends of the tile members'18- and are provided with the recesses 27 and 28 to-receive the outer flanges 29 and 30 of the I-beams so that when ly without first moving them longitudinally of the wall to disengage the flanges 29 and 30.

In order to hold the members 25 and 26 in place I then insert between them the refractory brick 31 which is a standard oblong fire brick of rectangular shape. The combined width of the members 25, 26 and 31 is slightly less than the width of the four tile members 18 going to make up the unit supported by the hanger bar and in order to fill the 5 aces left between adjacent sets compose of the members 25, 26 and 31 and to mterlock the various rows, I provide the bricks 32 which are rectangular blocks of fire brick each being substantially one-half the thickness of the standard fire brick 31, the width and len th of the blocks being the same as that o the standard fire brick.

The insertion of these members 32 completes the construction and as will be apparent from Figs. 1 and-2, serves to lock the entire wall together to form a closed inner surface. Now in case any of the fire brick become injured and in replacing the particular unit which is desired to be replaced, it can be removed by first removing the split brick 32 and then removing the elements 25 and 26 and the standard brick 31 whereupon the hanger bar and the refractory we disturbing the rest of the furnace wall an thus save a considerable amount of time as well as material in the repairing of the furnace.

It will be noted from Figs. 2 and 3 that.

the stemsof the hanger bars 12 are provided adjacent the round head portions with lugs 33 which as shown rest on the top of angle irons 16. These lugs being integral with the stems act as a .reenforcement at this point to prevent the stems from break- The vertical depth of the rows of tile 18 and tile 25, 26, 31 and 32 is as shown in Fig. 3, slightly less than the vertical distance between the horizontal portions 17 of members 16 so as to provide space for ex ansion vertically when the walls are heate up. This spaceis filled when constructing the furnace with a layer of combustible material such as paper which will burn out as soon as fire is started within the furnace and permit the spaces to close as the temperature increases. In the construction illustrated the distance between members 16 is about 15 inches and this requires a space of not more than of an inch for vertical expansion of the tile. This space prevents any binding of one section of the wall with the sections above and below which would cause the tile to break.

From the foregoing .description .it is thought that the construction and advantages of my invention will be clearly apparent to those skilled in this art.

Having thus described my invention, what I desire to secure and claim by U. S. Letters Patent is:

1. A furnace wall construction comprising a plurality of uprights spaced longitudinally of said wall, vertically spaced supporting ledges projecting inwardly from said uprights, rows of refractory tile members having portions resting on said ledges and project-ing inwardly therebeyond, means for detachably securing said tile members to said uprights, and rows of tie-blocks filling the space between the horizontal rows of refractory tile members.

2. A furnace wall construction comprising a plurality of uprights spaced longitudinally of said wall, vertically spaced supporting ledges projecting inwardly from said uprights, rows of refractory tile members having portions resting on said ledges and projecting inwardly therebeyond, means for detachably securing said tile members to said uprights, and rows of tie-blocks filling the space between the horizontal rows of refractory tile members, certain of said tieblocks having portions engaging said uprights.

3. A furnace wall construction comprising a framework made up of horizontally spaced uprights and vertically spaced supporting members secured to said uprights, a pair of rows of refractory tile supported by each of said members, and means for securing said rows of tile to said uprights.

4. A furnace wall construction comprising a framework made up of horizontally spaced uprights and vertically spaced supporting members secured to said uprights, a pair of rows of refractory tile supported by each of said members, means engaging the tile in one of said rows and secured to said uprights, certain of the tile in the other row being secured to said uprights.

5. A furnace wall construction comprising a framework made up of horizontally spaced uprights and vertically spaced supporting members secured to said uprights, a pair of rows of refractory tile supported by each of said members, means detachably engaging said uprights and retaining the tile in one of said rows in spaced relation to said uprights, elongated tile in the other row interlocking with said uprights.

6. A furnace wall construction comprising a framework made up of horizontally spaced uprights and vertically spaced supporting said uprights and retaining the tile in one of Y said rows in spaced relation to saiduprights, elongated tile in the other row interlocking with said uprights, the remaining tile in said other row maintaining said elongated tile and uprights interlocked. v

7. A furnace wall construction comprising a framework made up of horizontally spaced .upri hts and vertically spaced supporting mem ers secured to said uprights a pair of rows of refractory tile supported by each of said members, the tile in one of said rows each having an opening therethrough adjacent the uprights, and securing bars passing through said openings and having means engaging said uprights to hold the tile in place.

8. A furnace wall construction comprisin a framework made up of horizontally space uprights and vertically spaced supporting members secured to said uprights, a pair of rows of refractory tile supported by each of said members, said uprights each comprising a pair of spaced beams having flanges engaging said members and projecting toward each other, and securing bars extending through the tile in one of said rows, having head portions engaging said flanges for bolding said tile in place.

9. A furnace wall construction comprising a framework made up of horizontally spaced uprights and vertically spaced supportin members secured to said uprights, a pair 0 rows of refractory tile supported by each of said members, said uprights each comprising a pair of spaced beams having flanges engaging said members and projecting toward each other, and securing bars extending through the tile in one of said rows, having head portions engaging said flanges for bolding said tile in place, said flanges having aligned recesses therein between each of said supporting members providing openings for the rem-oval of said head portions.

10. A furnace wall construction comprising a. framework made up of horizontally spaced uprights and vertically spaced supporting members secured to said uprights a 7 pair of rows of refractory tile supported by each of said members, said uprights each comprising a pair of spaced I-beams, and

securing bars extending through the tile in' one of said rows, and having projectin head portions secured between the inner a jacent flanges of said beams, the other row-of tile having projecting members recessed to receive a pair of the outwardly extending flanges of said beams.

11. A refractory tile member for use in a. furnace wall construction having a substantially rectangular end face, side faces extendingv from said end face, one of said side faces being substantially lane and the other side faces being ofiset adjacent the other end of I said member to provide a reduced end portion, said member being provided with an opening extending through said reduced end portion from said plane face.

12. A refractory tile unit for use in fur- I. nace wall construction comprising a supporting bar, a plurality of tile members each having opposed flat faces three of which are offset inwardly to provide reduced end portions, and each having an opening extending through said reduced portion from the plane 15 face for receiving said bars, said blocks being arranged in pairs with the plane faces thereof in engagement.

In witness whereofll hereunto subscribe my name this 29th day of March, A. D. 20

LYLE STOCKTON ABBOTT. 

